The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said there is a resurgent of new job opportunities in Taiwan as export sector recovers from the economic slump in 2008 that caused several Filipino workers in Taiwan lost jobs.
MECO Chairman Tomas I. Alcantara said that based on the latest statistics from the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan’s export orders reached an all-time high last March, expanding 43.66 percent from a year earlier to $34.39 billion, as Asia-Pacific markets demanded for more Taiwan-made panels, computers and handsets.
“This is good news for Filipino workers. The resurgence of the export sector in Taiwan ensures the security of jobs there, and this could also create new job opportunities,” said Alcantara.
He said MECO in Taipei will monitor developments closely especially on the job sector for higher skilled workers, which is the main thrust of MECO’s efforts in Taiwan at the present time.
According to Huang J-shih, director of the statistics department at Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that last March’s export orders beat the previous record set in October 2007, when export orders totaled US$32.2, as he pointed to China and Japan as mainly fueling the growth.
Huang said China, which is procuring increasing numbers of Taiwanese LCD panels, ordered $9.8 billion in products last March, a year-on-year growth of 59.7 percent, while Japan, whose consumers are fond of Taiwanese handsets, saw orders jump 93.6 percent to $4 billion.
He said six ASEAN countries – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam – ordered $3.2 billion in products from Taiwan last month, a growth of 61.8 percent from a year earlier.